Boat-releasing device.



J. Y. PORTER, JR.

. BOAT RELEASING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 17,1912.

1,058,627. Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

INVENTOR Jcseph Yafes Fowl-eh, Jr.

ATTORNEYS coLummA PLANOGRAPH c0..\vA5HmGToN. D. c,

JOSEPH YATES PORTER, an, or KEY wEsT, FLORIDA.

BOAT-RELEAS ING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8,1913.

Application filed May 17, 1912. Serial No. 697,883.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPH YATES PORTER, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Key West, in the county of Monroe and State of Florida, have invented a new and Improved BoatReleasing Device, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to boat and similar releasing devices, and it has for its object to provide one, inexpensive to manufacture, and provided with a body which may be readily attached to the bow or stern of a life boat without altering the construction of the life boat or the arrangement of the air tanks thereon.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a device, which, when secured to a life boat, may be easily and quickly attached to a ring or link on the fall of a tackle and one which will securely support the boat while being raised or lowered, while, at the same time, it may be positively and quickly freed from the ring or link when the boat is in the water.

Additional objects of the invention will appear in the following complete specification, in which the vention is disclose In the drawings similar characters of ref-- erence indicate corresponding parts in all the views, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a life boat provided with my improvement; Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the bracket to which one of the trips is pivoted; Fig. 8 is a side elevation similar to thatshown in Fig. 2, but with the trip moved to permit the ring to be freed from the bracket; and Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 2.

In raising and lowering life boats from ships and especially in a seaway, it is neces sary that the life boat be supported by the falls of the tackle when the boat is over the side of a ship and above the water, and that the life boat remain secured to the falls of the tackle when the boat is in the water, until it is desired to free the boat. This means for freeing the boat from the tackle must be simple in construction, and positive and instantaneous in operation, for, if there is any sea running, the freeing of the boat from the falls of the tackle at the wrong moment is likely to result in the crushing of the life boat against the side of the ship, or, if the bracket.

preferred form of the in-' at the will of the officer in charge of the I boat, the falls of the tackle are positively and instantaneously freed from the boat.

By referring to the drawings it will be seen that the life boat 5 is provided with brackets 6, one at the bow and the other at the stern. Each of these brackets 6 has'a transverse slot 7, and a longitudinal. slot 8, which extends from the rear wall 9 of the transverse slot to the rear end 10 of the The bottom 11 of this longitudinally disposed slot 8 extends downwardly and rearwardly to permit the arm 12 of the trip to move down to the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. This trip 12 is pivoted by the pin 13, in the slot 8, and the trip has a tongue 14, which is normally disposed in the transverse slot 7, the tongue 14 having a front edge 15 which is normally disposed parallel with the front wall 16, of the transverse slot 7, and which rests against the said front wall 16 of the said slot, the tongue 14 has a bottom 17, which is normally disposed in horizontal position, and with which the ring 18 normally engages, this ring 18 being secured to the fall 19 of the tackle. Between the bottom 17 and the front wall 15 the tongue 14 has an obliquely disposed surface 20, which offers very little obstruction when in contact with the ring 18, when .the tongue 14 is moved down to free the said ring.

It will be noticed that the front andv rear walls 16 and 9 of the transverse vertical slot 7 are substantially parallel, and that when once the tongue 14 hasbeen moved down and is disposed in the longitudinal slot 8, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, there is no obstruction in this transverse vertical slot 7 to prevent the ring 18 from moving out of the slot or to delay the said movement. It will also be noticed that the pin 13 which pivots the trip in the longitudinal slot 8, is disposed a considerable distance above the horizontal point at which the tongue 14 engages the front wall 16, so that, although any strain on the ring 18 serves to hold the tongue 1 1 in place with its front wall against the front end 17 of the transverse slot 7 and the trip against the bottom 11 of the longitudinal slot 8,- when this strain on the ring 18 is removed, it is necessary to move the ring 18 down only a very slight distance in the transverse vertical slot 7, in order to permit-the tongue 14 to move rearwardly, and out of the transverse vertical s'lot'7, and into the longitudinal slot 8. Below the longitudinal slot 8 and spaced therefrom,- there is a second longitudinal slot 21, which extends through the transverse vertical slot 7 the bottom 10 of the rear wall of the bracket, the bottom 10 of the rear wall being cut away to lighten the bracket, without any loss of strength. In the bracket 6 there is an orifice 22, which extends from the front of the bracket back to the slot 21, and in this bracket there is a second orifice 23, which extends from the front of the bracket through the front wall 16 of this second orifice 23 is countersunk at 2 1, so that whenthe bracket is secured to the orifices 22 and 23, the head of the bolt dis posed in the orifice 23 may be disposed in the countersunk portion 24 in the said orifice'23, so that the free passage through the vertical transverse slot will not be inter fered with. The bolt disposed in the orifice 28 is introduced through the vertical transverse slot and the bolt in the orifice 22 is which they are secured. It will therefore be seen that when the ring 30 is pulled down it will draw inward, and simultaneously,

cal transverse slot 7.

the arms 12 of the trips, by which means the tongues 14 on the trips will be withdrawn in the longitudinal slots 8, to free the rings 18 and permit them to slip from the vertilVeights 31 are secured to the arms 12, so that the tongues 14 will normally be disposed in the transverse slot-s. hen the life boat is in the water, and it is to be raised to the deck of the ship, the sailors, one at the bow and one at the stern, will catch the rings 18,

and will shove. the rings down in the vertical transverse slots 7 in the brackets 6, I which will automatically secure the bolt to the falls of the tackle so that the sailors on the deck of the ship may quickly raise the boat from the water.

It will also be understood that the boat 1 releasing device may be operated even when the boat is not supported in the water, by increasing the pull on the link 30, or, if desired, by lengthening the trips 12.

The rear of Having thus described my invention I claim as new and desire to secure by Let- ;ters Patent: stern of the life boat by a bolt in the said '1 In a boat releasing device a bracket having a vertical slot extending through its upper surface, a second slot at an angle relat-ively thereto, and extending from the firstmentioned slot through an end of the ,;bracket, and a third slotdisposed in substantially the same direction as the secondlmentioned slot and spaced therefrom, a trip pivoted in the second-mentioned slot, and introduced through the longitudinal slot 21.

having a tongue disposed in the first-mentioned slot, there being orifices in the bracket extending from the first and third slots, through one end of the bracket.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH YATES PORTER, JR. Witnesses THos. E. SAUNDERS,

\V. I-IUN'r HARRIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

